Many-body physics in the NISQ era: quantum programming a discrete time crystal

Abstract

Recent progress in the realm of noisy, intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) devices represents an exciting opportunity for many-body physics, by introducing new laboratory platforms with unprecedented control and measurement capabilities. We explore the implications of NISQ platforms for many-body physics in a practical sense: we ask which {\it physical phenomena}, in the domain of quantum statistical mechanics, they may realize more readily than traditional experimental platforms. As a particularly well-suited target, we identify discrete time crystals (DTCs), novel non-equilibrium states of matter that break time translation symmetry. These can only be realized in the intrinsically out-of-equilibrium setting of periodically driven quantum systems stabilized by disorder induced many-body localization. While precursors of the DTC have been observed across a variety of experimental platforms - ranging from trapped ions to nitrogen vacancy centers to NMR crystals - none have \emph{all} the necessary ingredients for realizing a fully-fledged incarnation of this phase, and for detecting its signature long-range \emph{spatiotemporal order}. We show that a new generation of quantum simulators can be programmed to realize the DTC phase and to experimentally detect its dynamical properties, a task requiring extensive capabilities for programmability, initialization and read-out. Specifically, the architecture of Google's Sycamore processor is a remarkably close match for the task at hand. We also discuss the effects of environmental decoherence, and how they can be distinguished from `internal' decoherence coming from closed-system thermalization dynamics. Already with existing technology and noise levels, we find that DTC spatiotemporal order would be observable over hundreds of periods, with parametric improvements to come as the hardware advances.

v2: added appendices B and C, added Fig.1, expanded discussion. v3: added Fig. 8

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Cited by in corpus (68)

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• Error propagation in NISQ devices for solving classical optimization problems
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• Observing Floquet topological order by symmetry resolution
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• Floquet Prethermal Phase Protected by U(1) Symmetry on a Superconducting Quantum Processor
• Filling up complex spectral regions through non-Hermitian disordered chains
• Exactly solving the Kitaev chain and generating Majorana-zero-modes out of noisy qubits
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• Simulating a ring-like Hubbard system with a quantum computer
• Large-scale simulations of Floquet physics on near-term quantum computers
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• Quantum simulation using noisy unitary circuits and measurements
• Criticality and Rigidity of Dissipative Discrete Time Crystals in Solids
• Playing nonlocal games across a topological phase transition on a quantum computer
• Route to Extend the Lifetime of a Discrete Time Crystal in a Finite Spin Chain Without Disorder
• Time-crystalline behavior in central-spin models with Heisenberg interactions
• Superconducting Quantum Simulation for Many-Body Physics beyond Equilibrium
• Theory for dissipative time crystals in coupled parametric oscillators
• Stabilization of Discrete Time-Crystaline Response on a Superconducting Quantum Computer by increasing the Interaction Range
• Thermodynamics and Protection of Discrete-Time Crystals
• Unveiling clean two-dimensional discrete time crystals on a digital quantum computer
• Prolonging a discrete time crystal by quantum-classical feedback
• Simple Hamiltonian dynamics is a powerful quantum processing resource
• Quantifying spatio-temporal patterns in classical and quantum systems out of equilibrium
• Steering spin fluctuations in lattice systems via two-tone Floquet engineering
• Characterizing dynamical criticality of many-body localization transitions from the Fock-space perspective
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• Ptychographic estimation of pure multiqubit states in a quantum device
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• A comment on "Discrete time crystals: rigidity, criticality, and realizations"